I saw this article in the Metro section of the Washington Post and feel a need to comment (find it on the web at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...).
A vice principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Laurel [Maryland] last month ordered Amber [Mangum], then 12, to stop reading the Bible or face punishment, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by Amber's mother....
Mangum said her daughter was reading her Bible on Sept. 14 when Vice Principal Jeanetta Rainey approached. According to Mangum and the lawsuit, Rainey told Amber that reading the Bible violated school policy and that she would face discipline if she continued to do so.
If what is alleged is true, it brings to light an important point about the separation of church and state and the place of prayer in schools: there are two sides to the issue.
Not only is it essential that prayer organized or sanctioned by those in authority or peer pressure be forbidden in the public schools, it is equally essential that
individuals in the public schools be able to freely study and practice their chosen religion when it does not disrupt the teaching functions of the school.
This means that a girl or boy wishing--in his or her free time at school--to read the Bible, Koran, Book of Shadows, Mahabharata, Book of Mormon, Quaker Faith and Practice, or any other religious text should be free to do so. Students should also be free to pray or otherwise openly express their religious beliefs in school when it is not disruptive to the teaching functions of the school. They should be protected from coercion both to engage in religious practices, or to be prevented from doing so.